Fotoreproductie van schilderij De anatomische les van Dr. Nicolaes Tulp door Rembrandt, coll. Mauritshuis 1902

This is a photo reproduction of Rembrandt's painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. It's unsigned, so we don't know who made it or exactly when. What jumps out at me here is the monochromatic palette. It reduces the original's color scheme to its most simple form, and flattens the depth of the picture. Look at the texture of the photo reproduction itself, how this smooths out the original brushwork to emphasize tones and contrast. It's interesting how the lack of color and flattened depth encourage us to study the tonal relationships between light and shadow, and the figures in the photo. Consider Jasper Johns' grayscaled paintings of the American flag or targets, how they use the absence of color to make us think differently about familiar objects. What does it mean to take away the color, the thing that usually grabs our attention first? Both artists are asking us to slow down, to look more closely. It is an invitation to see in a new way.